Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to tackle biodiversity loss.
Answered by Mary Creagh - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
Britain’s nature is in crisis. Nearly half of our bird species and a quarter of our mammal species are at risk of national extinction. Biodiversity has been declining at an unprecedented rate since 1970.
That is why this Government has wasted no time in announcing a rapid review of the Environmental Improvement Plan, to be completed by the end of the year, to make sure it is fit for purpose.
We will introduce a new, statutory plan to protect and restore our natural environment, delivering on our legally binding target to halt the decline in species abundance by 2030.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether he (a) has had and (b) plans to have discussions with the Scottish Government on the potential impact of the Dangerous Dogs (Designated Types) (England and Wales) Order 2023 on the transport of dogs between England and Scotland.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Defra Ministers have written regularly to Ministerial counterparts in Scotland to encourage a UK–wide approach to the ban on XL Bully type dogs. This included highlighting the implications of the ban in England and Wales on the movement of XL Bully dogs between England and Wales, and Scotland. We also offered several meetings to discuss the XL Bully ban with the Scottish Government.
Defra officials continue to engage with officials from all the devolved administrations on a weekly basis to discuss the implementation of the ban.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how much her Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Mark Spencer
The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the cost to the public purse has been of Ministerial severance pay in her Department in each year since 1 January 2016.
Answered by Mark Spencer
Under the Ministerial and Other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991, eligible Ministers who leave office are entitled to a one off payment equivalent to one quarter of their annual salary at the point at which they leave Government.
This applies only where a Minister is under 65 and is not appointed to a ministerial office within three weeks of leaving government.
Individuals may waive the payment to which they are entitled. That is a matter for their personal discretion, but this approach has been taken in the past.
Details of such payments are published in departmental annual reports and accounts, and ministerial salaries are published on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministerial-salary-data
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that underwater munitions clearance contractors who claim to have environmentally friendly methods of clearance, such as low order deflagration, do have the capability as claimed on their application for a licence.
Answered by Trudy Harrison
Defra recognises the impact underwater noise from ordnance clearance can have on the marine environment and we have made clear in a joint position statement, published in November 2021, that quieter alternatives to loud detonations should be prioritised. The relevant regulator rigorously assesses each license application to clear unexploded ordnance from the seabed. All regulators require applicants to provide data to demonstrate the technology’s effectiveness at reducing environmental impacts, submit a detailed impact assessment, associated mitigation requirements and a robust monitoring plan, including noise monitoring, which is used to verify the technology’s effectiveness. The Government is also testing a range of alternative clearance technologies.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the Government plans to employ veterinary surgeons at each of the Border Control Points under the Hull and Goole Port Health Authority.
Answered by Victoria Prentis
Sanitary and phytosanitary controls on animals and animal products imported into Great Britain from the EU are being introduced in stages. From April, Port Health Authorities will be required to carry out remote documentary checks on products of animal origin, with physical and identity checks on animal products being carried out at Border Control Posts from 1 July 2021.
Defra has provided £14 million funding to local authorities in England to support Port Health Authorities with the recruitment and training of over 500 new staff, including Official Veterinarians. This includes £537,659 which has been awarded to Kingston Upon Hull City Council.
Defra is also working closely with the Animal and Plant Health Agency, which will be responsible for carrying out checks on live animals, to ensure the recruitment and training of the additional staff required is completed for each stage of the new import regime.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of committing to legally binding air pollution targets that are in line with World Health Organisation air pollutant limit values; and what other initiatives his Department has planned to ensure that the number of children living in areas of air pollution are halved by 2025.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
This is a devolved matter so apart from the targets relating to emissions ceilings limits, which are already in statute, this answer applies to England only.
In the Government’s Clean Air Strategy, published in January this year, we committed to setting a new, long-term target to reduce people’s exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5). We will publish a report this year examining what action would need to be taken to meet the World Health Organization’s (WHO) PM2.5 annual mean guideline level of 10μg/m3. This will include analysis of the benefits to public health.
We are the first major economy to set out ambitions based on the WHO’s PM2.5 targets, and our Clean Air Strategy was welcomed by the WHO’s Director General as “an example for the rest of the world to follow.”
The Strategy sets out the measures we will introduce to reduce emissions of PM2.5, resulting in a decrease in concentrations everywhere in the UK. This reduction will result in a halving of the number of people living in areas above the WHO annual mean guideline level by 2025, compared with 2016.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the (a) devolved Administrations and (b) local authority leaders to ensure the continuation of clean air policy across the UK in the event of the UK leaving the EU.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
Statutory air quality targets for 2020 and 2030 are already in place. We continue to work with Devolved Administrations and Local Authorities to deliver the measures to meet these UK targets.
Under the Withdrawal Act, the Government has made Statutory Instruments which make necessary technical amendments to EU air quality legislation (in particular The Air Quality (Miscellaneous Amendment and Revocation of Retained Direct EU Legislation) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 and The Air Quality (Amendment of Domestic Regulations) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019). These ensure continuity without changing any of the substantive requirements, or reducing air quality standards.
The UK is also a signatory to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the outcomes of projects reducing children’s exposure to air pollution in each of the last three years.
Answered by Thérèse Coffey
This is a devolved matter. In England, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs sets out the national policy framework for tackling harmful air pollution. Local measures, such as those aimed at reducing exposure around schools, are taken by local authorities to whom air quality actions are delegated. Whilst Defra has provided funding for local authorities through the Air Quality Grant, including for some schemes specifically aimed at schools, it is for local authorities to assess the outcomes of projects they run.